John Palfrey of the Berkman Center will engage Commissioner Julie Brill on the Federal Trade Commission’s policy and enforcement initiatives in the area of online privacy and data security. Every day we hear about privacy issues surrounding Facebook, Google, mobile apps, smartphones, Big Data and data brokers. Learn about the Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to protect consumers in this area.

About Commissioner Brill

Julie Brill was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission April 6, 2010, to a term that expires on September 25, 2016.

Since joining the Commission, Ms. Brill has worked actively on issues most affecting today’s consumers, including protecting consumers’ privacy, encouraging appropriate advertising substantiation, guarding consumers from financial fraud, and maintaining competition in industries involving high tech and health care.

Before she became a Commissioner, Ms. Brill was the Senior Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice, a position she held from February 2009 to April 2010. Commissioner Brill has also been a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia University’s School of Law. Prior to her move to the North Carolina Department of Justice, Commissioner Brill was an Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the State of Vermont for over 20 years, from 1988 to 2009.

Commissioner Brill has received several national awards for her work protecting consumers. She has testified before Congress, published numerous articles, and served on many national expert panels focused on consumer protection issues such as pharmaceuticals, privacy, credit reporting, data security breaches, and tobacco. Commissioner Brill has also served as a Vice-Chair of the Consumer Protection Committee of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association.

Prior to her career in law enforcement, Commissioner Brill was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York from 1987 to 1988. She clerked for Vermont Federal District Court Judge Franklin S. Billings, Jr. from 1985 to 1986. Commissioner Brill graduated, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, and from New York University School of Law, where she had a Root-Tilden Scholarship for her commitment to public service.

Commissioner Brill is married to Mark Miller, and has two sons.

About John Palfrey

John Palfrey is Henry N. Ess Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School. He is the co-author of "Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives" (Basic Books, 2008) and "Access Denied: The Practice and Politics of Internet Filtering" (MIT Press, 2008). His research and teaching is focused on Internet law, intellectual property, and international law. He practiced intellectual property and corporate law at the law firm of Ropes & Gray. He is a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Outside of Harvard Law School, he is a Venture Executive at Highland Capital Partners and serves on the board of several technology companies and non-profits. John served as a special assistant at the US EPA during the Clinton Administration. He is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard Law School.